The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched an appeal for more than $60 million to provide agricultural relief in the coming year in 14 countries and regions suffering from devastating human or natural disasters. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are included in these regions.

According to the 2004 FAO/WFP assessment mission report, food insecurity is a real or near constant threat for about 70 percent of both West Bank and Gaza Strip populations, with four out of ten households identified as chronically food insecure.

For the West Bank and Gaza Strip, FAO is asking for $4 million to support a range of projects, including helping female-headed households improve nutrition and income through backyard farming, beekeeping and other activities, enabling poor farmers to produce high-quality olive oil through improved production and post-harvest techniques, rehabilitation of damaged greenhouses for vegetable production, and developing a food insecurity and vulnerability information mapping system to monitor and provide up-to-date information on food insecurity and nutrition status among Palestinians. (menareport.com)